The CHL Daily News

Team Tiger Williams routed Team Kelly Hrudey in the inaugural CHL HomeHardware Top Prospects Skills Competition, held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewanbefore 6,133 fans at Saskatchewan Place Wednesday night.

Team Tiger Williams defeated Team Kelly Hrudey 20-7 in the Skills Classic.The skills competition featured all 40 players who will take part inThursday night’s CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects Game, which will bebroadcast live nationally by Rogers Sportsnet at 7 p.m. local time, 8 p.m.ET.

Points were awarded to the team which accumulated “bests” in individual andteam skill events. Leading the way for Team Tiger Williams was JayBouwmeester of the Medicine Hat Tigers, who was tagged as the fastest skaterwith a time of 14.463 for one complete lap.

The Hardest shot was awarded to Calgary Hitmen forward John Boychuk, whoregistered a 94.7 miles per hour blast. Pierre-Marc Bouchard of theChicoutimi Sagueneens for Team Tiger was the most accurate shooter bydestroying four targets in just six attempts.

Another highlight from the inaugural Home Hardware Top Prospects SkillsCompetition was Jeff Deslauriers of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens being namedthe top goaltender.

The 2002 CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects game takes place at 7 p.m. localtime Thursday night at Saskatchewan Place. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Ticketsare available for $15. For more information, call the Saskatoon Bladesoffice at (306) 975-8844, or call Select-A-Seat at 938-7800.

2002 CHL HOME HARDWARE TOP PROSPECTS GAME ON ROGERS SPORTSNET

The 2002 CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects Game will be broadcast live onRogers Sportsnet Thursday at 7 p.m. MT and 8 p.m. ET, live from SaskatoonPlace.

It’s the seventh annual edition of the Home Hardware Top Prospects Game,which features 40 of the top CHL prospects for the National Hockey League’sEntry Draft, as selected by the NHL’s Central Scouting Department.

This year’s celebrity coaches for the game both have roots in WesternCanada. Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster and former NHL and WHL star KellyHrudey will coach one team, taking on a squad coached by former NHL and WHLstar Dave “Tiger” Williams.

Among the participating players this year are three members of Canada’snational junior team, which won a silver medal at the recent World JuniorHockey Championships in the Czech Republic. Defenceman Jay Bouwmeester ofthe Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL, forward Rick Nash of the London Knightsof the OHL and forward Scottie Upshall of the Kamloops Blazers of the WHLare among the bright young CHL stars taking part in both Thursday night’sgame and Wednesday night’s skills competition.

Brandon Segal of the Calgary Hitmen replaces injured forward Tim Brent ofthe Toronto St. Michael’s Majors in the game, bringing the number of WesternHockey League players in the game to 15. There are 15 OHL playersperforming, along with 10 players from the Quebec Major Junior HockeyLeague.

Bouwmeester is the number one ranked player from the WHL on the NHL’scurrent North American rankings, while Upshall is number two. Nash is thenumber one ranked prospect from the OHL on the NHL’s list. Ben Eager of theOshawa Generals is the second ranked OHL player on that list and he willalso be in the game.

The two top QMJHL prospects on the NHL Central Scouting Department list aredefenceman Martin Vagner of the Hull Olympiques and defenceman FrancoisCaron of the Moncton Wildcats, who will lead the 10-player Quebec delegationinto the contest.

The Kamloops Blazers of the WHL have the most players in the game withthree, while 12 other CHL teams have two players each participating in thisyear’s game (Plymouth, Oshawa, Kitchener and Sault Ste. Marie from the OHL,Chicoutimi, Hull, Moncton and Shawinigan from the QMJHL and Brandon,Medicine Hat, Calgary and Swift Current from the WHL).

Virtually every player to perform in the CHL Home Hardware Top ProspectsGame has been selected in the NHL Entry Draft. Such current NHL stars as JoeThornton, Vincent Lecavalier, Simon Gagne, David Legwand, Scott Gomez, ChrisPhillips, Alex Tanguay and Eric Brewer have appeared in the Game.

For full rosters of the teams, check the Home Hardware Top Prospects page atthe official web site of the Canadian Hockey League, www.chl.ca.

WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE

There are no games in the WHL on Thursday night.

There were four games in the WHL on Wednesday night. Prince George doubledVancouver 4-2, Seattle and Tri-City battled to a 4-4 tie, Spokane defeatedPortland 4-2 and Kamloops drilled Kelowna 6-2.

At Prince George, Dan Braum scored the game-winning goal for the Raiders,while Mike Wirll added one goal and one assist. Kyle Stanton made 28 savesfor Prince George to record the victory in goal.

At Seattle, Matthew Spiller’s power play goal at 11:56 of the third periodtied the score and gave Seattle a point. Spiller and Nate Thompson both hadone goal and one assist for the home side while Tyler Metcalfe added a pairof assists. Eric Johansson had two goals and one assist for Tri-City, withRory McDade assisting on all four Tri-City goals.

At Spokane, Joff Kehler scored a pair of third period goals to lift Spokaneto victory and he also added one assist. Matthew Keith had one goal and oneassist for the winners, while Barry Brust stopped 32 shots before 4,405fans.

At Kelowna, Ryan Annesley scored twice for Kamloops while Ben Knopp had onegoal and two assists. Chuck Kobasew scored his 27th goal of the year for thelosers, while Steve Belanger made 26 saves in goal for the winners.

ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE

There are four games in the OHL on Thursday night. Kitchener is in Brampton,Barrie (5) travels to North Bay, Guelph visits Peterborough and Toronto St.Michael’s (10) is in Windsor.

There was just one game in the OHL on Wednesday night as the Owen SoundAttack got by the Barrie Colts (5) 3-2.

At Owen Sound, Dan Sullivan’s second period goal turned out to be the gamewinner and Derek Dolson made 27 saves to lead the Attack. Aaron Power hadtwo assists for Barrie, while David Chant made 33 saves.

QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

There is one game in the QMJHL Thursday night as Hull travels to Montreal.

At Shawinigan, Francois Belanger scored two goals and added two assists tolead Sherbrooke to its upset win. Patrik Levesque and Jonathan Robert bothhad one goal and two assists for the winners, while Jason Pominville had twogoals and one assist for Shawinigan. Charles Gauthier added one goal and twoassists for the Cataractes.

For complete QMJHL statistics and standings, visit the official QMJHL site.